Remlinger Farms

Saturday, October 8th was our community fall picnic at Remlinger Farms. We waited too long to register for it so we ended up on the waiting list and didn't find out we would be able to go until the day before. So glad we got the opportunity and in the future will be one of the first to register so we don't miss out on this fun activity.

Abigail had a soccer game that morning so we arrived a little late, but there was still plenty of food. All you can eat hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, chips, soda, slaw, and a variety of fresh pies.

We'd heard conflicting comments whether the rides were included in our discounted admission and were thrilled that to find that all the fun the farm had to offer was included. The kids were $5 for the huge lunch, unlimited rides, and a free pumpkin - SCORE! And Katie was free!

We went to Remlinger a few times when the girls were small, but it’s been years since we’ve been back. It's a really cute park and the rides are perfect for young kids.

This was Jason’s first time riding on amusement park rides (not sure you can count Disneyland when he was only 15 months old). We went on the roller coaster first and I could tell he was nervous while we waited in line, but he didn't hesitate to give it a try. When the ride ended he had a huge smile on his face and exclaimed, "That was awesome!" Next month we’re returning to Disneyland for a few days with Justin’s family so hopefully Jason (and the girls) keep their sense of adventure.

I think the pumpkin ride is the cutest of all the rides and fitting on this perfect fall afternoon. Everyone took a turn (or two) throughout the day.

The kids know that their Dad can get any spinning type of ride going ridiculously fast – he shows no mercy on those kids.

The kids could have stayed in the hay maze for hours. I had such a hard time getting them out there so we could move on to something different.

Try to ignore the ridiculous man standing in this picture. The kids stood there for several minutes waiting for him to get a clue and get out the shot but he clearly didn't catch on.

You can’t go to Remlinger Farms and not ride on the little train.

Jason was very excited about driving the antique cars. He took his job very seriously. Katie did a great job helping him steer from the backseat as well.

Another classic Remlinger ride is the boats, perfect for the very young. Katie spent most of the short ride dipping her hand in the water and watching the plastic ducks floating along side her.

I was really excited that the kids had the opportunity to ride the ponies while we were there. Carly has read several books this year about horses so I knew how much this would mean to her. She's a natural.

We learned from experience a few years ago that Abigail is allergic to horses and will puff up like a balloon if she rides so she had to miss out while everyone else got a turn.

This was Katie’s first time riding and as you can see she wasn't sure what to make if the situation. She loves animals and as we waited in line for our turn she kept making growling noises at the ponies, once on though she was perfectly still and silent.

Carly and Jason also rode another kind of horse.

Looks like this will be the last year for Carly.

The small ferris wheel was another big hit. Jason enjoyed swinging his cage back and forth as it went around and around. Katie looked so cute sitting next to Abigail and didn’t want to get off when the ride was over.

Abigail and Carly can’t pass up an opportunity to conquer a rock wall.

We ended up staying until they shut everything down at 6pm and we had no choice but to head for home – near the end of the day we basically had the park to ourselves and could ride anything we wanted without a wait.

It always feels great to come home after a fun filled day with our family. We can’t wait to return to Remlinger next year!

Mini Posts

I have several events to post in the near future (and Justin, don’t think I’ve forgotten you were going to post your “Summer with Dad” photos), but I’m feeling more random than focused so mini-posts will have to do for today.

1. We’re in the mist of a crazy week – the busiest week of the year for Justin at work. He came home from work at 1am on Monday night (or Tuesday morning), slept for a few hours then was back up at 6am. Hopefully we’ll have another D.A.D. Day after this week so I can have a little M-O-M time to catch up.

2. We are a week into our new egg-tolerate diet. It is wonderful. Not being used to cooking much with eggs, I ran out of eggs only two days into it. We’re stocked up now though and I’m loving all the possibilities. Abigail is keeping a list of all the foods she’s been able to try this week. The down side of this is the extra pounds we’re putting on.

3. I survived my first (noticeable) earthquake a few weeks ago. Jason, Katie, and I were in the bonus room playing one afternoon. I was laying on my stomach and felt the house move. It didn’t last long, but it was strong enough that Jason noticed as well. I couldn’t find anything online about it that afternoon, but when our local paper came out a week later Justin spotted a little blip proving my suspicions.

3.2 magnitude earthquake

4. For weeks I’ve been dropping Jason off at various homes, twice a week, for two hours of pre-school. It was inevitable – unavoidable – I had to take my turn as “teacher”. I really put off planning my lessons, but to be honest once I got started I actually enjoyed it… that’s the computer part of it. Implementing it wasn’t as much “fun”. I had a boy in tears less than two minutes after he arrived – he’s a sensitive, energetic little boy. I survived this week though and have another month before I have to do it again.

Our letter of the week was “E” so we made elephant headbands

Our theme for the week was “apples” – Jason did great gluing the apples to the right apple tree

5. After 6+ months of looking, I finally ordered a kitchen table. I still have to finalize the finish on it, but the deposit has been paid and I am really excited about it. Granted I’ve never even seen it, but I think it will be perfect. Now I just have to wait the LONG 14-16 weeks for it to arrive. Hopefully that will give me enough time to pick out some chairs to go along with it.

6. We thought we moved from a windy neighborhood, but that was nothing compared to the wind we get here… and from what we’re told it will only get worse (apparently someone at church has had a trampoline crash through their window). Carly’s soccer game on Monday was cold, wet, and very windy. At one point a gust came through with such force one of the other mothers lost her umbrella – we watched it sail up high in the sky until it drifted out of sight…. very Mary Poppin’s like. I had to sit with my legs wrapped around the pole on our large umbrella the whole game just to keep it grounded.

7. New favorite show this season… Revenge. Have you seen it? It’s an awesome show that leaves me excited for week after week. We’re hooked.

8. At least twice this week, completely out of the blue, Jason has said how much he misses his Grandma Kesler. My Mom has been on her mission in Hong Kong for only about 2 ½ months, but we haven’t seen her since last Christmas. Busy lives and a 13-hour time difference make it hard to catch each other on Skype. We miss you Mom! Hopefully I can fix our internet soon so we can actually have more than a three minute conversation without being disconnected.

Allergy Update

Today was our fourth visit to the allergist in the past five weeks.

Back in January I took Jason and Abigail to the allergist to discuss the possibility of introducing eggs (in baked goods only) into their diet. My hope was that we'd get permission to perform an "oral challenge", where they would slowly eat something with egg under the doctor’s supervision. If their bodies didn't react then we could introduce them to a whole new wonderfully delicious world, it really would be life changing and make feeding my family so much easier. She did a skin test and decided their egg allergy was still too severe to attempt the oral challenge. We were disappointed, however, she told us to come back in 6 months to reevaluate.

Because we moved since then I decided to schedule their follow-up with a allergist closer to us (and with hopes that she would be more lenient).

Visit #1 was Jason’s skin test. Unfortunately, yet not surprising, he still reacted to egg (though only to fresh egg, not commercial). I explained to the doctor that as a toddler he ate baked goods without issue (unfortunately, years ago we were incorrectly advised to remove all egg from his diet resulting in his egg allergy actually worsening over the years). She decided it was worth a try so we left happy and excited to return for the oral challenge.

Visit #2 was Abigail’s skin test (bummer, that they couldn't fit both kids in on the same day). Abigail's egg allergy has always been more severe then Jason’s so we knew she'd react, which she did, but I was able to convince the doctor to let Abigail participate in the oral challenge with Jason so long as I knew the risks involved and that her chances weren't as good.

Abigail school class was asked recently to write about something they DESPISE, she informed me last night that she is writing about allergies. Imagine going to birthday parties and never getting to eat the birthday cake, having to surrender most of your Halloween and Easter candy cause you can't eat it, and going to a restaurant and only having one item on the menu you can eat. Because she has always handled these restrictions with such maturity, accepting it without argument or complaint, I was surprised and felt badly that she chose this as the thing she most despises.

Visit #3 was Katie’s turn to get a complete workup. Because we already had two kids with food allergies, we’ve always been careful what we gave Katie to eat. She'd never eaten anything with nuts, fish, or anything full-on egg-y. Several months ago someone in church gave Katie some cereal, Katie put it in her mouth then spit it out, she did this a few times before I caught on and within a few minutes she had red hives all around her mouth. Come to find out the cereal had nut in it and we inadvertently discovered that three of our four children are allergic to nuts. Thankfully, she didn't swallow anything so we didn't experience anything life threatening. Not wanting to be surprised again we decided have Katie tested so we would know what else we need avoid. A skin test requires the suspected allergens be pricked into the skin so it's not very comfortable. Katie did awesome though and didn't cry at all as they pricked her entire little back will all sorts of common allergens.

Just to give you something to compare – here are the welts on Abigail’s back when she was tested in January 2010.

We were surprised (and thrilled) with the results. Katie is ONLY allergic to peanuts. My greatest fear was that we'd come home with a long list of allergies including new ones that we aren't already dealing with, further complicated our lives. So peanuts, and only peanuts, was great news!

Visit #4 was Abigail and Jason’s oral challenge early this morning. I had a special cupcake/muffin recipe to make and bring with us. The appointment was to go as follows:

• Check-in, examine body for existing redness, rash, or swelling
• Eat 1/8 of a cupcake
• Wait 15 minutes, check for reaction (any reaction would immediate stop further exposure)
• Eat 1/4 of a cupcake
• Wait 15 minutes, check for reaction
• Eat 1/2 of a cupcake
• Wait 15 minutes, check for reaction
• Eat a full cupcake
• Wait 90 minutes, check for reaction

If allowed to progress through the entire process we would be at the office up to four hours. We came prepared with books, DS's

and movies

I spent my time typing this here novel on my phone

We were happy that they both reached the full cupcake stage

After waiting 90 reaction-free minutes we met with the doctor and were given the most exciting news... they can BOTH start eating food with baked egg! There are a few exceptions - still nothing heavily concentrated in egg like french toast or omelets, no ice cream with egg, mayonnaise, fried rice, etc... Of course we need to take it slow and keep a close eye on them, but they are thrilled!

And so am I! My recipe book is about to multiply radically – meals that we can ALL eat… my whole family. To make sure they don’t have any delayed reactions, they can’t eat anymore egg today, but starting tomorrow they are good to go. I'm thinking homemade rolls are a must... and for dessert??? the possibilities are mind-boggling!

Conference Weekend

I've mentioned before that I'd love to have my family quarantined at home. Not allowed to run errands, go to work or school, no appointments, just time at home playing together and working on that never-ending household to-do list. This past weekend was about as close to that as I can expect given our current circumstances. It was conference weekend, which means the leaders of our church speak to us during four two-hour sessions of conference. It's a time for us to refocus on what's truly important.

We spent Saturday morning at soccer games – leaving the house at 9am and not getting back til close to 1pm. Before heading home we ate lunch at Herfy’s (a small local diner with yummy fries – and fry sauce, a rarity in these parts).

Once home we watched the Saturday morning session of conference (yeah, for DVR’s). On Friday afternoon, our home teacher brought by cookies and conference packets for each of us to work on as we listened to conference. The kids had lots of fun coloring in the ties for each of the apostles and doing the little activities in the packet - Abigail’s packet included areas to take notes as well.

My visiting teacher gave me a neat little basket full of conference goodies: licorice, a pen and notebook, a mug and hot cocoa, popcorn, tissues, etc… the attached note had a cute little explanation for each of the items.

I’m grateful for people that come up with these cute ideas and share them with our family.

Justin headed down to Auburn Saturday afternoon/evening to attend the Priesthood session of conference with a friend. The kids and I got out our 72-hour kits for their annual clothing and food update. The kids look forward to this each fall cause they get to eat all the food out of their kits throughout the weekend. Which always means we’re eating soup for dinner, beef jerky and granola bars for snacks, and fruit leather for dessert.

(I braided Carly’s hair as we watched conference – something my sister and I used to do when we were kids – she slept in them Saturday night and had quite the fro on Sunday)

Hopefully, I can manage a trip to Winco in the next week or so to restock our 72-hour kits so we can move them out of the family room and back into the garage until next year.

Katie’s kit consisted of three days worth of baby food. My baby from last October has certainly changed in the last 12 months. Thankfully, she’s not a picky eater and had no problem eating pureed squash for dinner.

I love a Sunday morning that I don’t have to be in drill sergeant mode to get Justin and the kids out the door for church. Instead we lounged around in our pajamas, cooked pancakes for breakfast, and enjoyed the rest of Conference.

There were several talks that I really liked, but as a mother of three daughters, I’ve gotta say my favorite was Sister Elaine S. Dalton’s that focused on raising happy, well-adjusted daughters in today’s increasingly toxic world. She concentrated her thoughts on the father’s role in this, but much applies to mothers as well. The highlight for me was when she expressed to fathers that, “The most important thing a father can do for his daughter is to love her mother.” Sure I like it because that counsel also holds some perks for me, but I honestly believe it is true. Our three daughters adore their Dad. He has a special relationship with Abigail and Carly that I will never be a part of and I love that. Miss Katie desires more and more of Justin’s care and attention as she gets older as well. The relationship my girls have with Justin will continue to play a crucial role in the young women they become, and we are blessed that he recognizes that.

After the Sunday afternoon session we decided to venture down to Justin’s parents. Linda made her yummy chicken soup for dinner - yes, more soup, but it wasn’t from a can or styrofoam cup and it tasted delicious. The kids love playing with their cousins and grandparents and we ended up staying until it was time to get the kids home for bed.

It really was a great weekend. No we didn’t necessarily accomplish anything around the house on my to-do list, but we played games, cuddled, wrestled, talked, feasted on lots of soup and most importantly the gospel.

Puyallup Fair

Saturday was our last chance to make it to the Puyallup Fair. It’s was our only soccer free weekend we’ll have for a few months so we took advantage of having a free schedule and make the drive down. Since it was the last weekend of the fair (and beautiful weather) we knew it would be crowded, so we arrived shortly after the gates opened. Grandpa Fletcher came with us which is always fun because he’s a big fan of fair food – just like us. Before we did anything we chowed down a large basket of curly fries. We also indulged in some other favorite fair foods throughout the day: grilled corn on the cob, scones, and free samples of chocolate milk.

Before we got there we told the kids that we wouldn’t be doing any rides – they are ridiculously expensive and so we try to avoid them every year. They were told to not even ask and in the 6-7 hours we spent at the fair we didn’t hear a single request.

We spent a lot of time looking at the animals. Katie still hasn’t been to a zoo (she’s such a deprived child) and Jason has also had very little exposure to animals so they were both very excited.

Jason and Katie were fascinated with the baby chicks.

The small petting zoo was also a hit.

The big kids got their faces painted. A dolphin for Jason, a butterfly for Carly, and a teddy bear for Abigail.

For further entertainment we watched a funny and quite impressive illusionist show as well as a children’s show that hasn’t changed a bit over the years. Two years ago my Mom was pulled out of the audience to participate in the performance – video clip here. Jason was so fun to watch – he cracked up at all their funny little routines. Abigail wanted to see the show because she knew she’d get to pick out a book on their big bus after the show.

Katie tolerated the day much better that I imagined. She’s usually taking two naps a day still so being in the stroller all day could have been disastrous. She did awesome though and just as we thought we were winding down for the day she fell asleep in her stroller without any fuss. Yeah, Katie!

As we were leaving (for real this time) we caught the tail end of the acrobat show – I think is new to the fair this year(?). Next year we’ll have to make sure we see the whole act – it looks pretty amazing.

Another great year at the fair!

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my Dad’s birthday – he’d be turning 82 years old.

13 years ago today was his funeral.

This morning I was reading the latest Ensign which is entirely dedicated to the Book of Mormon. The first article was written by the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. The first few paragraphs describe a conversation he had with a man on his deathbed. It touched me personally because as my Dad faced the end of his earthly life I remember talking with him about the purpose of life and what lies ahead for us when our journey here ends. There are many life lessons that can be learned from the experiences my Dad had during his life, but tonight I felt it was most important that my kids heard his testimony.

I hope they felt the love that my Dad had for his family and for the gospel.

I hope we are making him proud.

Def Leppard

When I got the email from Groupon that Def Leppard was coming in concert there was no question I was going. After seeing Bon Jovi perform last year, Def Leppard moved to the top of my concert wish list. Justin knew this was something I wanted to do and didn’t hesitate to agree to go with me. Last Thursday was the big day.

There was a small opening act before Heart took stage. Amazing that these two ladies can still belt it out.

I took some video with our old point-n-shoot camera. Even though the quality and sound are incredibly poor I would have filmed the entire concert if I had enough memory – just so I could relive the night again and again.

Heart performing Barracuda:

Not everything was heavy – here’s Heart playing one of their softer favorites. This video is even worse (I was filming the big screen and didn’t realize you couldn’t see anything), but you can still get the gist. Notice the gal on keyboard – she was awesome… I told Justin that maybe Abigail could be play keyboard to some great band someday.

After a short intermission it was time for the real show to begin. The one, the only, Def Leppard!

So they aren’t as easy on the eyes as Bon Jovi, but they've got talent.

It’s amazing to me that even after a decade without listening to their music (cause let’s be honest, it’s not very kid friendly), I still knew the songs as well as if I listened to them everyday. Some things just don’t get old. Ok, well the band members have definitely aged a bit, but they are still incredible musicians.

I love the acoustic portion of Rock music – I think the guitar solos are my favorite. I love how they opened “Rocket” with this little piece.

Yes, the guitarist is not wearing a shirt and appears to be slathered in oil, but he is incredibly ripped so I felt it was acceptable.

And the drummer! Did you know he only has one arm? A.maz.ing!

I realize it’s a bit surprising to some to find that I enjoy this type of music. I don’t quite know how to explain it. To some it might be agitating but it's the opposite for me. Maybe I’m wired a little differently than most, but this was my kind of concert. They played every single song on their best hits CD – I couldn’t have left in a better mood. It was awesome.

And what did my country boy from Texas think of it all? Not really his thing in fact he only recognized a few songs all evening. But not once did he complain or act in any way that minimized my enjoyment. Though when we got in the car to head home (after nearly four hours of LIVE 80’s Rock and Roll) and the Def Leppard CD in the car resumed play, he did ask if we could listen to something different.

So now what’s next on my concert wish list? I’m not sure. I’ll have to dig though my old CD’s for a refresher. Chances are there are only a few bands still playing (or still alive?). Justin’s already told me that if Metallica makes my list I’m all on my own.

Preschool

Jason started preschool this past week and he's got the best teacher ever... me! {Did you catch the sarcasm there?} A gal in our ward sent me an email several months ago asking me if I would be interested in participating in a co-op with five other women. I would never consider doing something like this however the preschools here are ridiculously expensive so the frugal side of me couldn't say no, though every other part if me wanted forget she'd ever asked.

When I was at Ricks College I actually took a teacher prep class. Toward the end of the course we took a test that would tell us what grade we are best suited to teach. When I got my results I wasn't at all surprised to see that instead of recommending I focus on teaching a specific grade I was told that if I wanted to pursue a career in education I would be much better suited in administration.

And while I'm not one who thinks it's absolutely necessary for children to attend preschool, I knew this would be something Jason would love and a great opportunity for him to make some friends here. The mom coordinating it all seems to be very well organized and I think as long as there are consistent expectations and rules from house to house I can survive this. With five of us in the rotation I will only teach the boys about six weeks during the year and it's only two mornings a week for two hours. I can handle that, right?

Here's Jason ready for his first day of preschool.

I feel bad that I didn't even get the poor kid a backpack... I dug out a tiny sling pack though so he could have something to put his Epipen in. The conversation we had on the way home from his first day of school is further proof of my lack of preparation.

Jason: {surprised, yet very matter-a-factly}

"It’s at someone's house, mom."

Me: {oops, did I forget to mention that?}

"Yeah buddy, we get to take turns having it at everyone's house. When we have it at

our house I get to be your teacher. Isn't that neat?"

Jason: {chuckling}

"Dat be so funny Mom!"

Yeah, it is a little funny. Wish me luck!

D.A.D. Day

The arrival of fall brings with it cooler temperatures, back to school routines, busy soccer seasons, and a demanding work schedule for Justin. It's his busiest time of the year as he works to complete and file the state tax returns for T-Mobile. His biggest deadline is October 15th, but September 15th can be quite a dozy as well. So basically we usually don't see too much of him for about a month and a half. I think every year he and his co-workers have taken October 16th off as a get-out-of-work-free-day. (Not really free considering he'll often be working 16+ hour days as their deadline approaches). Yesterday marked the passing of deadline #1 and his director gave everyone in the group today off. I hereby dub these days as D.A.D. (Day After Deadline) Day.

D.A.D. Day is a special day because we get to enjoy having Justin a part of our everyday routine. It started with him waking up with the kids (difficult to do after our late night at the rockin' Def Leppard concert last night). He managed to make sure the girls showered, ate breakfast, and packed up their homework and the lunches he'd prepared in time to catch the bus to school. I stayed in bed and finished reading a book. As lunch rolled around we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to eat out with only two children in tow and headed to one of our favorite places - The Cheesecake Factory. The food was wonderful as usual; unfortunately it took 45 minutes to get it so we had to eat quickly because Katie's restaurant manners were wearing thin. Turns out Miss Katie's behavior was justified because later that afternoon she was running a fever. I gave her a bath and medicine, but what the girl really wanted was her Daddy. Thankfully, I was able give her what she needed.

The girls get out of school early on Fridays and each wanted to play with friends. Justin is very pro-playdates which is understandable because he's not the one who has to deal with playdates... usually. First let me say, I want the kids to have friends in our home, but it's not always easy... first you have to call around and try find someone without plans, then there are transportation issues, and messes, sometimes arguments (Jason won't leave us alone...), and the most frustrating to me is when they approach me and say they can't think of anything to do. But since Justin was here and all for it - everyone had a friend over to play. Oh, did I forget my least favorite thing about playdates - is that within two minutes of friends arriving Katie is prematurely awaken from her much needed nap. Good thing it was D.A.D. Day cause she was content to hang out with her Dad while he played with all the kids outside.

Our evening was relaxing - much needed after an incredibly busy week. Justin made quesadillas and fresh salsa for dinner while the girls and I watched the finale of Design Star. Then it was off to bed for the kiddos - as usual I got Katie to bed quickly after a short story and snuggle. As I type this Justin is still up with the three oldest. He, as usual, takes his time getting them to bed (though, at this point I’m thinking he may have fallen asleep with them). I know that they love the time he spends visiting with them each night as they lay in their beds. He's such a great Dad.

After our awesome D.A.D. Day today, I look forward to our next... too bad we're going to have to manage without much of him for a few more weeks.

Running Behind

The kids are nearing the end of their second week back in school and I’m still struggling to find my new groove. It’s like someone flipped some switch and suddenly life is crazy busy and I’m running around like a wild woman. Which doesn’t quite make sense because shouldn’t I feel less busy with only 2 kids at home instead of 4? I’ve even been late to several things lately and I’m never late (unless it’s “fashionably” acceptable and expected). Seriously, I have a reputation for being very punctual. It makes me NUTS to run behind schedule.

SUMMER HAS ARRIVED!! Yes, it’s a few months late and unfortunate that the girls have already gone back to school, but we have had the most beautiful weather the past week or so. Thankfully it coincided with a holiday weekend so we could spend some time enjoying it as a family.

We spent lots of time in our backyard. There’s nothing pretty about our backyard (unless you include Justin’s thick green grass), but it’s a good size and we’ve spent lots of time enjoying it this summer. One of our favorite things to do is play “volleyball”. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture, but basically we set up our badminton net between two chairs (so only about 3-4 feet high) and we play volleyball with a huge beach ball. Usually it’s boys against girls and 9 out of 10 times the girls win (though I’m told winning isn’t everything). It’s lots of fun, surprisingly good exercise, and we laugh a lot.

Below is the kids hitting the ball around with Justin without the net set-up.

Katie enjoys sitting in this little beach chair we bought several years ago. She is quite the little daddy’s girl - every time Justin moved somewhere else in the yard she would pick up her chair and move it closer to him.

We also enjoyed a few BBQ’d meals from Justin over the weekend. I’m not at all into eating hamburgers and steak, but I did find a new pleasure in relaxing on a blanket on a nice sunny evening. Next summer I’m thinking a hammock would be a great addition to the backyard.

Saturday morning Justin took the three big kids on a hike. Without a hiking pack for Katie, she and I stayed home. Justin will post some pictures soon of some of the fun things he and the kids have done this summer sans baby and baby-mama. There are times it’s just easier for us to split up. Stay tuned for summer-a-la-daddy.